Insects - An introduction to their history and evolution

A Web Page by Roy J. Beckemeyer

Last updated 17 March 2008

This page provides a key to the way in which insects are related and how they have evolved.  The chart below is a version of the Phylogeny of the Insecta.  I prepared the drawing based on the Insect Phylogeny chart in The Evolution of the Insects by David Grimaldi and Michael Engel, but have taken some liberties with it (for example, I use the paraphyletic group "Palaeoptera," and I have placed the origin of the Holometabola earlier in the Carboniferous to accomodate a newly discovered Carboniferous Protomeropid from France).  I also have used colored columns to delineate geological eras and colored rows to delineate higher taxonomic groups.  The small RECTANGLES indicate important morphological characters. The CIRCLES indicate important or interesting fossil specimens and are clickable-links to pages about those fossil specimens.